I have a good friend who teaches third grade in public school. My son is now a third grader and I thought it would be nice to ask what she is working on in her classroom and see how that compares to what we do to make sure I am covering all the bases. Last night she brought over her lesson plans and books for me to peruse over the weekend. Ummmm, things have changed a lot since I was in the ps classroom! When I was in third grade, we spent the morning in art, science, music, and gym (about 50 min. each with a dedicated teacher for each subject). The afternoon was for homeroom which covered spelling, reading, math, and social studies. My friend's third grade class has a thirty minute period once a week where they will do either social studies or science, alternating each week. That is one hour of each a month! They have math each morning from 8:25-10:20 and spend all afternoon on language arts (journaling, reading, spelling, vocabulary, and grammar). Music, art, and gym occur once a week with a dedicated teacher (as opposed to homeroom teacher). I had no idea. Our church is working to start an after school tutoring program for 4-5th graders to have additional math help. Several other churches in our community are already sponsoring an elementary school. I can't imagine these children doing two hours of math in class every day and still needing assistance, but they say that test scores are at an all time low.:sad: I say all of this not to trash our local schools. I know many ps teachers who are wonderful people and care about their students. I am just in shock and am very concerned for America's future now knowing more about the education of a small, middle class community.:confused:

Just chatted with a Rainbow rep. I'm answering my own question, just in case anybody else cares;) If you order at least $25 from the Christmas book 11/15-12/12 then you receive free shipping on the total order even if you have items selected from the "big book." You have to make that $25 min. from the holiday book to get the shipping.

The Christmas catalog states (on page 128) that there is, "free shipping on paid orders of $25 or more of product from this catalog placed between November 15 and December 12, 2011." Does that mean the free shipping is only for items from the Christmas catalog and not all products? If so, what if I want some items from the Christmas book and some from the big catalog? Any experience with this?

Okay I am now TOTALLY FREAKED OUT here!!! I love candles. I have 2-4 burning in my house pretty much anytime I am home and awake. (Three right now!) I usually burn two downstairs and two upstairs. We have 3 indoor cats and two large indoor/outdoor dogs and am constantly cleaning the litter box and mopping the floors, but burn candles b/c I don't want to smell my beloved animals. Ya know? Most of my candles are Bath and Body brand with an occasional Yankee or generic. Are these types toxic? Where are these studies and how do I know if my candles are poisoning my family????

We are using Horizons 3 and it takes ds about 45 min. to complete the two page lesson. Math is his least favorite subject and there is a tremendous amount of stalling:glare:

That was really impressive. We are big HP fans here, and I think they did a great job summarizing each of the books' themes. Very cool!

I felt the one Sat. p.m. but didn't realize it was a quake. I thought the cats were shaking my bed. haha. It never occurred to me that it could be an earthquake because we don't get those here! Last night's quake really shook the second story of our house. The dishes were rattling in the cabinet. I was pretty shook up myself. I think I'd rather have a tornado. At least then we feel safe and snug underground....and we know ahead of time that it is coming.

So sorry....that's a tough decision :grouphug:

My small community does not have a hs co-op (just a support group), but I think that there is interest. No one seems to know how to really start one though. I don't mind taking a bit of leadership here to get one started, but I am also clueless on how to go about it. Can anyone recommend a resource with some guidelines/instructions or tell me what your group has done? Also, our community only has about 100 hs students K-12, so we are not a huge group with many students in each grade. So I guess we need tips for small groups if that makes a difference. Thanks.

I am trying to decide what we will do next year. If you are using or have used Sonlight Core F (grade 5) can you tell me what you thought of the program? I am not really familiar with any of the book titles. Are there any that stand out as being particularly good (or bad)? If so, I may get a few and read as samples. Thank-you.

We had a similar experience as was mentioned...roaming bunny loved to eat baseboards (even though we had woodblocks in his sleeping area)! He even found a loose piece of wall paper and began pulling it off the wall (I hated that paper anyway;)) Our clothing was also pretty tasty to him and we had to watch or he would begin nibbling that too. He was neutered and super sweet and easy to care for. We have cats and the bunny litterbox trained himself to their box. He liked to be held and would lay on his back while I rocked him to sleep. BUT....we will not have another one...their life expectancy it too short. I had two when I was growing up and then one for our son. None of them lived past four years. The two in my childhood developed respiratory problems so our son's was indoor only (no nice playtime outdoors) and he died at 3 years. We did not do an autopsy, but always assumed that he ate something he shouldn't have while he was roaming the house. He was quite the nibbler.

Wow! Very neat. We will be checking in with you often. Thanks:)

We started using Typing Instructor for Kids (Platinum) when my son had just turned 8 yrs. He loves that it teaches through games and is motivated to continue practice because with improved skill, he can explore new parts of "typer island" and earns "gems". I thought I would have him work on it twice a week for 15 or 20 min at a time; he is enjoying it so much that he plays it in his free time. :001_smile: After just a few months, he can type about 15 words a minute with 100% accuracy. I know that is not fast, but I am happy that he is learning proper technique, and enjoys the learning process. I think that speed with come with time. There may be programs better suited for older more mature students, but this seems to be a very good program for young elementary.

Wow! After reading all these posts, I think I need to send my vet some flowers or something. I had no idea other people's vet expenses ran so much more. I guess there are just lots of little things in life we don't even think of that we need to be thankful for and this would be one of those things for me. Thanks for the lesson ladies.

That was too funny:) On a serious note: my sis just had here first mammogram and said her dr. told her 1 in 7 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. I couldn't believe it. I had no idea the odds were that bad. Yikes! Maybe I better pay more attention to what the hot guys said.

I a so sorry! My thoughts are with you in this difficult time :grouphug:

Our cat was attacked by an opossum (we didn't see the attack. this is the vet' best guess) a few weeks ago. To sedate the cat, shave him, drain the growing abscess, and clean him up and keep him over night for observation (and wait to wake up) was $100. (These head wounds were very deep and you can still he his muscles exposed on the underside of his neck) She charged $26 for a two week follow up visit that included another shot of antibiotic, cleaning the wounds with peroxide, putting ointment on them, and giving me some protein drink for him since he is still not eating well. I would have fainted if she had said it was $500 and even though I didn't ask up front, she would have told me! If you just love your vet, I would continue to go there, but begin asking about the cost of everything up front! Otherwise, I'd find a new vet. We live in Oklahoma, so maybe things are just cheaper here, but it sounds like you got ripped off!

I'm in Oklahoma too. Maybe this was just a bad year for them? What are glue traps? Are they like those sticky mouse traps?

I have some unwanted house guests! There seems to be a family of brown recluse spiders living in my garage. I have killed four in the past two days. It would seem easy enough to just spray the entire area with some really potent chemical, but my dh is opposed to toxic chemicals and in this particular case so am I.....we have a cat who was attacked by what our vet thinks was probably an opossum and is quarantined in the garage recovering. I don't want to put harmful chemicals around the cat, but neither do I want brown recluse in the garage! I have been tidying up out there and in moving stuff have probably disturbed them....but they are disturbing me too, ya know! What can I use to kill the spiders without harming the cat?

My parents let my sis and me choose nice rings at our local jeweler instead of highschool class rings. We both picked ruby/diamond rings and still wear them often. (My sis had hers remounted on a wider, nicer band for college grad) If I had a daughter, I would definitely be encouraging the same thing.

We had a Maclaren Volo and LOVED it! This was one of 5 strollers I have owned and my all time favorite. They are sooooo light weight (about 7 lbs. I think) and have a shoulder strap to carry it (this happens more often then you may think). The canopy is extra large and while it has the feel of an umbrella, it still has a small basket underneath. But the best feature is the fact that the wheels are sooooo smooth!!!! My two cheapo umbrella strollers were hard to steer, but never the Maclaren. It also holds up to 50 lbs. so you can use it longer (although they need to be about 6 months to be big enough to start using it. If I were starting over I would buy the Maclaren (triumph?) that has a recline seat and can be used for a smaller baby too. But I can't say enough good things about Maclaren.

My son loved the trick or treating there....We visited near halloween not on the actual night. We always try to go weekdays to avoid huge crowds. Grapevine is always busier than Kansas City too. KC on a weekday in the school year is QUIET. Grapevine is bigger, newer, and better attended. Don't know where you live, but your kiddos will have a great time regardless when you go;)

I used to have simple instructions for measuring the height of large trees. I can't find my instruction sheet or the website. There was some sort of simple formula, but I can't remember. Can anyone tell me how to do this??? HS fall fun day in the park is Friday and I thought this would be a neat team activity for the older siblings who are being forced to attend what is really a kiddie event ;)

Since no one else is responding guess I will...... My husband rides and loves it. (He likes to polish his bike and then just stand back stare at it too......I understand that this is considered normal among mc lovers:tongue_smilie:) He bought me a bike and my son clothing (leather jacket, boots, gloves, and protective pants). We sold my bike this summer and I NEVER once rode it. I agree to let our son ride with dh sometimes, but I am a nervous wreck until they return!!! We live in a small town and yet have mc accidents (cars not seeing them and running them over) on a monthly basis. All the protective gear in the world is not going to be enough if they get hit. I would think off road would be safer. I will admit I am overprotective and can be a worrier, but I leave the motorcycle riding to my husband.

books? plural? I didn't know there was more than one children's version. It is a series? How many children's books are there?